Family Gathering Off to Charlotte, Vermont

  • Post published:06/15/2022
  • Post comments:2 Comments
Mermaid Cove

This past weekend we went travelling to Charlotte, Vermont, a town where I lived  as a young child. Charlotte is a town where my grandparents bought land and waterfront of Lake Champlain in 1938.  My grandparents travelled from Sweden when they were very young. When Grandpa was successful he and his son Walter wanted to have a dairy farm. They shopped together, and found land that reminded Grandpa of Sweden. Here I am taking a photo of  a small stretch of lake front. This  area is what we girl cousins, called Mermaid Cove – where we went skinny dipping.

My brother Tony holding forth

This was a family get together, visiting farm cousins and farm places. We weren’t all together every minute but my brother Tony (he has his back to us) had a B&B place to stay in and he took us on an amazing tour of the gardens around the Main House.

Flower Gardens

The land around the owner’s house was made of elegant gardens. Lots of peonies on a beautiful spring day.

Elegant squares

There was  an array of squares, wonderful for wandering. Hard to tell from afar the  flowers within the square.

Beauty in this square

This square offered more than plants, but I am not sure  what to call this decoration. It certainly makes the square even more elegant.

Daughter Betsy among the trees

As lovely as the squares are, walks among the trees are magical. I only wish we could name some of the trees. There  are many  beautiful trees in many sizes, shapes and colors on this farm

Many beautiful trees

The stroll was breathtaking.

The B&B Cottage

Before we left these beautiful gardens we stopped in to see the charming little B&B Cottage.

B&B Cottage Bedroom

The bedroom is quite large, but there are smaller areas including a little  kitchen  Visiting here was the end of our tour. We are hoping to visit Charlotte again  this summer but I don’t think this cottage will be available. My brother got lucky!

We had family dinners, and I held forth about my years on the farm, and in school. My two room school (one up and one down) had classes 1,2,3 downstairs, and classes 4,5,6 upstairs. There were 32 children in my classroom. The building did not have plumbing, or heating beyond the woodstove, but the teacher brought in a large crock of water, and the mothers took turns bringing in hot soup for lunch during the winter. We all kept cups in  our desks for drinks and the cups came from cow feed bags.  Oh, I remember it well!

This Post Has 2 Comments

  1. ianrlawson

    Ah, Patti, I’m so glad I read and viewed them all!

    I recall that it was the kindness (as well as the war-time ‘neutrality’) of the Swedes that enabled them to take and save almost the entire Jewish population of the Danes (about 9,000) when the Danes were tipped off (possibly by a German friend, since the two populations were close, geographically and socially as well. I surmise).
    The Gestapo planned to scupper the whole Danish Jewish population on the day following their removal to Sweden in the nick of time. Royal families of Scandinavia were so close as, I think, were their peoples. During WW2, There was also Scottish (and, thereby, British) support for the Norwegians by the ‘Shetland bus’ – a boat which used to run between Norway and Lerwick (capital of Shetland) carrying supplies and some relief to the Norwegian ‘Underground’!
    And, did you know that those northern parts (my grandparents, my mother, and my younger sister and I were all ‘Wick-ites) were under the King of Norway until, unwisely, he put them in hock to the Scottish king in the 15th century, as dowery for a royal marriage Those centuries are sill as near to each other as are the scanty populations, lan

  2. Pat

    Ian – it is so good to hear from you. I never gave much thought to your family name. You must have lots of stories about those painful days. We hope all is going well for you and your family. I think of you often.
    with affection – Pat

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